Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Avengers Get Butt-Ugly New Poster

Marvel has been hyping a new "Avengers" trailer set to debut Wednesday all week/weekend (the screening prints of "John Carter" are starting to ship this week, so one imagines the trailer will be attached to that) and to go along with it here's a new, not-terribly-good poster.

Yeah... not very good - it's like they looked at every tired post-2000 poster cliche (for superhero movies or otherwise) and decided to use them all: Over-glossy Michael Bay "sheen?" (which doesn't match the crisp natural-daylight cinematographer we've seen so far) Check. Cap and Iron Man sans masks? Check. Dirt and embers flying around everywhere? Check. Obvious photoshop-collage with zero attempt to match light-sourcing? Check. Nobody seems to be looking-at or reacting to the same events (Cap and Widow are completely chill, something on the right is VERY disconcerting to Thor, Hulk and Hawkeye MIGHT be looking in the same general direction, none of them are noticing the giant explosion)

Check. I'm kinda wondering what's with the (by now) familiar-looking blue light-beam coming out of what I assume is Stark Tower, but otherwise? Bleh. If not for the five pretty-good feature-length trailers that preceded it, you'd have to say this movie has a pretty underwhelming ad-campaign (though at least it's not the disaster that Disney's fumbling of "John Carter's" promotion is shaping up to be...)

Everything I have seen so far from this movie just looks oh so mediocre. Also Iron Man should be the third most important avenger to this plot, not the first. Thor's brother is the villain thor should be the most important character, and captain america should always be in the spotlight as well... I understand marketing wise why they are focusing on iron man, but once the story starts I really hope he is not the main character.

I would actually understand if they made Tony Stark the "main" character for this. Yeah, Thors brother is the bad guy, but Thor's character doesn't really have anywhere to go as far as I'm concerned. Same goes for team leader Cap, who is a bit more relatable but can't really see any development with him. Black Widow and Hawkeye are almost completely unknown to the audience. Nick Fury will always just be Sam Jackson with an eyepatch. And Hulk is... well, he's the Hulk. Tony Stark is the most well received character in the Marvel movie lineup AND has potential for an honest character arc (most obviously in learning how to be a team player).

Captain America has to deal with the fact that every single person he's known is dead. That his entire world is gone forever. That he's basically become a living legend in his absence. Cap's entire world view may need to change, coming from an era where war and battle was all black or white. He may end up most of the film battling with the possibility of becoming a literal anachronism.

Thor has to deal with the fact that his Brother, his own flesh and bone has betrayed him. Not to mention the fact that he finally gets to meet some mortals that are more than capable enough to hold their own in a fight. Forcing him to confront the fact that he may not be as unmatched as he thinks he is in Midgard.

Hulk may need to learn to trust S.H.I.E.L.D. to help him even though he has been hunted down and captured violently by agents that as far as he knows may or may not have been in cahoots with them.

Hawkeye... poor, poor Hawkeye. Being part of a team that includes a cyborg, the jolly green giant, a super soldier, and a literal God he is undoubtedly the most blasé member of the group, he doesn't even have Black Widows umm, assets.But seriously...Marvel knows this. Being a part of a group made up of such big players its easy to see Widow and Hawk having a hard time coping. They are two of the worlds deadliest, most capable Secret Operatives. Sitting comfy at the very top of their fields, but compared to the other Avengers they're small potatoes. Can you imagine going from the best of the best to "those two normals"Not to mention the fact that being (supposedly) trained in subtle, under-cover, wet-work, cloak and dagger espionage they may not feel ready to join a team that fights aliens in the middle of the city and in plain daylight.

Hell even the side characters have some very interesting roles:Fury is the worlds Top Cop. The guy charged with keeping the world safe or at least looking safe. He needs to be in control or look like he's in control. Considering all the trouble he's gone through to pull this team together, it can be assumed he knows something is coming.

Maria Hill is Second in Command of S.H.I.E.L.D. and according to several interviews with Cobie Smoulders she's feeling pretty iffy about Fury's Avenger initiative. Thats gotta come into play at some point.

Coulson, a bit part elevated largely thanks to Clark Gregg's terrific, stone faced portrayal of the character. He may have to faceand get a chance to work with (as Bob has said several times) his childhood hero, Captain America.

Iron Man has to learn how to be a team player, sure. But every character has a role to play. Marvel has been setting up this crossover for five films and they seem to know what they're doing, I don't know about anyone else but I'm gearing up for something big.

Regarding the Poster;Meh, I'm just curious to see WHATs causing the destruction.

Well, Iron Man has starred in 2 movies so far, both of which grossed more than ANY of the other Avengers movies. The first of which has a 95 percent approval rating (or 94, depending on who you ask) whereas all the others can hope for is high 70s. The actor playing him has been nominated for 2 Oscars, although Edward Norton was nom-oh wait, we replaced him. Oh the guy playing him got nominated for the Kid's Are All Right that's...okay so we have to show Hulk? Okay so he's out.

Oh and Iron Man, incidentally, is the one with the most character (in that, unlike Thor, his movie had a good script, and unlike Captain America, he had a fucking CHARACTER ARC which I thought was a required aspect of being a character, but what do I know?).

He's also the most visually dynamic of all of the characters, the one who, by the nature of his character, is going to get ALL the best lines (known as Dr. House syndrome), the one who conforms to Joss Whedon's writing AND directing style the most, and, as the most established character (with 2 movies as opposed to everyone else who has one or less), probably the one who'll end up front and center for most of the movie.

So that is why Iron Man is front and center. Because as much as this poster sucks, the guys who were clearly forced to shop this don't suck COMPLETELY at their job.

Iron Man is easily the most marketable character. Thats not an opinion, thats just a fact. It is to be expected that he be front and center for most of the advertising.

However, every single character has a plot line to fulfill in this film. Each of them has the capacity to provide a great arc to the movie and if Joss and company pull it off we're in for an amazing film. Not only that, we're looking at a game changer not just of superhero films but of franchise films in general. The idea that all these little threads and pieces can be set up in the other films to later pay off in this one will completely destroy any doubt people have for Marvel's continuity driven antics.

If the film were to focus squarely on Iron Man and deny Thor, Cap, Coulson, Fury, Widow, or Loki some closure on their own journeys than every single set up in all the earlier films will be for nought.

ya know i dont want to be that guy but i'm going to be just for this post. The Dark Knight Rises poster was sooooooo much better than this poster or in fact any of the avengers posters. I want it to be a good film but I just dont have high hopes for it meaning The Avengers, it just doesnt seem to be great. Caps suit looks bad (looked better in the first film), Iron Man although I like him seems to be just the same old character that he was before. Hulk looks weird, and Thor looks good but I want the helmet, and Blackwidow well...yea we all know :D. So anyways yea it looks to be good but just not great.

You do not need a character arc to be a character. Some of the characters with the most longevity, like James Bond and Sherlock Holmes, do not normally have character arcs. If they're planning to get another half-dozen or so films out of this roster of characters, they're probably better off avoiding arcs, because it's bad storytelling in episodic stories to have the main character learn a life-changing lesson every single time. Sometimes it's okay for them to just go in there and do their job.

still waiting for inevitable Joss Whedon hissy fit should this fail on either the critical or commercial fronts. And yes, I agree that too many of the Avengers have no character or drama going on with them. Thor and Cap are just boring in terms of character.

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About Me

Bob is a part-time independent filmmaker, part-time amateur film critic and full time Movie Geek. He is heterosexual, a pisces, and a severely lapsed Catholic. He is a tireless enemy of censorship, considers his personal politics "Libertine" and enjoys acting as a full time irritant to overly serious people of ALL political stripes.